


Abyssal

by MiniNephthys



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Afterlife, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 10:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1601564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fire and brimstone Hell would have at least been predictable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Abyssal

**Author's Note:**

> This is the most self-indulgent thing I have ever written, ever. I really should apologize.

There is nothing Doppio wants more than to stay in this world, to make sure that things settle well for the boss and that the traitors die. He wants that badly, wants to root his feet into the ground and never leave.

But even if he tries to keep his feet on the ground, he’s already fading away, his senses disappearing. He panics, he knows he’s not headed for Heaven, but there’s nothing he can do but try to anchor himself, and he doesn’t know how other than to concentrate on what remains of his senses. By then it’s too late, and the remainder of his sight and hearing disappears. He blacks out.

When Doppio awakens, he’s somewhere else than where he died.

The sky is black, and there’s no sign of natural light, yet he can see the outdoor landscape perfectly. The land is barren, with a few buildings made of stone dotting the area. Passing just by him is-

Is that a fucking minotaur.

Doppio screeches, falls back onto his behind as he scrambles as quickly as he can away. The minotaur glances in his direction, snorts loudly and continues on (its? his?) way, grumbling something about the newly dead.

That’s right. Doppio is dead, isn’t he? Then, since this doesn’t look anything like Earth, this must be… Hell is the only obvious option. He expected more fire and brimstone.

“Dead guy, you’re sitting in the road.” A young boy’s voice comes from one side of him. “There aren’t cars here, but you might get hit by a chariot. Well, it’s not like it’ll kill you, but it’ll hurt.”

Doppio picks himself off the ground and turns to look. A young boy, probably in his early teens at most, is tapping his foot. He’s dressed in green, and the hat he’s wearing is similar in shape to Guido Mista’s, excluding the horns.

“Are you human?” he asks, because it’s the first question that comes to his mind and he’s not exactly thinking things over slowly right now.

“Nope!” The boy grins. His teeth look human enough, but something about the expression is still alarming. “One hundred percent bona fide demon. You’ll meet mostly demons or other dead spirits here.”

Doppio swallows the lump in his throat and tries to speak. “So... I really am in Hell-?”

“Not a name we use here. The usual options are ‘the Abyss’, ‘the Expanse’, or ‘Makai’. ‘Atziluth’ is a rarer one. You can also just call it the demon world. But not Hell.” The boy raises one finger. “There’s a Heaven, and you aren’t going to it, but don’t feel too bad, God’s picky. Once you’ve done your time and purified yourself, you’ll be at peace.”

“I can’t be at peace yet. Not with the boss still- I have someone I need to know is still alive.” The words come out in a rush. “I wanted to stay on Earth.”

“It’s not easy to keep from moving on by strength of will alone. You don’t look like you could manage it, you’re kind of…”

The boy suddenly sparks with crackles of lightning surrounding him. Doppio tries to scramble away again, his heart pounding in his ears and only beginning to calm down when the demon stops and laughs.

“See, that’s what I mean. But if you want, I can look your someone up for you and see what’s happened to them.” The boy sticks a hand out. “I’m Zett. I don’t do this for everybody, you know.”

“...Doppio. It’s Doppio.” Against his better judgment, he lets Zett help him up.

* * *

“Since we’re in Yesod already,” says Zett, leading Doppio toward a large building, “the fastest way to find anything out is through the library Hecate keeps here. There’s a book that’ll tell you anything you want to know about anyone you know the name of, so-”

“Err.” Doppio clears his throat. “I don’t know his name. Unless ‘the boss’ is enough.”

“That won’t cut it,” says Zett. “Alright, then this will be harder but still possible. You don’t mind, do you?”

Doppio isn’t sure what he isn’t supposed to mind, but anything is worth it to know that the boss is safe. He follows Zett as he leads him into what is truly a massive library, books stacked up stories and stories with an enormous staircase stretching to where Doppio’s legs ache thinking about climbing it. The ledges have no railings.

“Like it?” Zett asks, going for the stairs.

Doppio hurries to follow. “I don’t have a lot of time for reading…”

“I’ve finished this whole library.” Zett says it nonchalantly. “If you consider ‘him’ to be ‘me’, anyway. I remember reading them so it counts, right?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Zett leads him up at least seven stories before Doppio stops counting, but eventually he stops in front of a large section of books with titles that Doppio can’t read. He pulls one out, thin and bound in leather, and opens it up to a blank page.

Doppio blinks. “What is that supposed to tell-”

With inhuman strength, Zett grabs Doppio’s hand and forces it down inside the page.

It feels like getting a thousand paper cuts all at once in the first second, and more every second after that. Doppio winces and tries to pull his hand back, but Zett holds his wrist tight until the page is filled from top to bottom with letters. Only then does he let go, and Doppio snatches his hand away as fast as possible.

On his first look at the page, he realizes… “I can’t read any of this.”

“Of course you can’t. Even the younger demons can’t read this, that’s why I was going to use the other book. But this is almost as good as long as I can translate for you.” Zett peers over the markings. “You’re looking for Diavolo, boss of the Passione gang, right?”

Doppio nods, rubbing his hand.

“I have bad news, and I have even worse news, and then I have some news that might be terrible or okay depending on how you look at it.”

He steels himself. “I can take it.”

“The bad news is he’s not alive.” Before the shock can even set in, Zett goes on: “The worse news is that he’s not dead, either, he’s cursed to keep dying until the world ends. The maybe okay news is that the world’s going to end in about ten years or so, so he’ll be released then and come here, since he sure isn’t going to Heaven.”

Doppio’s feet give out from under him. He gropes around for something to hold onto, and in the process forgets how thin the walkway he was standing on is.

Falling more than seven stories, even if you’re already dead, hurts like hell.

“Quiet down,” he vaguely hears someone say over the pain and the screaming that he realizes now is coming from him. “This is a library.”

* * *

“On the bright side, it’s not the worst fate that I’ve ever heard of happening to anybody?” Zett says, leaning back after a quick physical examination Zett had said was pointless but Doppio had insisted on. No broken bones or even a twisted ankle, just a whole lot of pain.

“What could be worse,” Doppio hisses.

“The Messiah reincarnates into worlds that are about to end in every single life, always has to witness them ending and never is able to stop it. Forever, without anybody being able to stop it.” Zett sighs. “Let’s not talk about that. Do you want to move on and be at peace, now that you know?”

Doppio thinks about it and comes to the same conclusion. He shakes his head. “I can’t. I’ll wait ten years, I’ll wait forever if I have to.”

“Forever means something different to the living than to the dead,” Zett says. “But suit yourself. It’s not like you can’t change your mind two years in and start working towards moving on then.”

“I won’t.” Though Doppio wasn’t strong of will enough to remain on Earth, he knows he’s strong enough for this. He thinks. It’s for the boss, he can do it. “So… his name was ‘Diavolo’...?”

Zett nods. “I’m surprised you didn’t know, considering you were sharing a body with him. Then again, primary personalities can get super controlling.”

Doppio stares. “...I still don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“You. Were in the same body. As your boss.” Zett lightly taps Doppio on the head. It’s a gesture that feels as immature as Zett looks. “This happens with humans more often than it does with demons, actually. With demons it’s usually something deliberate, like my ex-primary personality split me off to go do something he couldn’t accomplish himself.”

Doppio takes a minute to try to process this. For all he knows, Zett could be completely bullshitting him, it’s not like he could read what was in that book to say otherwise… On the other hand, it’s not like he can go take a look at what’s going on himself. He has no other leads to go on than the kindness of a random strange demon. How often is he going to get strange demons being kind to him?

“-so when he reabsorbed me and tried to kill my friends is when I decided I had to do something about him, and the rest of the story is all rainbows and power of friendship and it’s kind of boring- you’re not listening.”

Doppio snaps to attention. “Sorry!”

“It’s fine, I guess it’s a lot to take in. You have ten years, so don’t feel like you have to figure out everything about your life all at once.” Zett shrugs his shoulders and stands up. “Well, I’d better get to work now. You and me, though, we’re kindred spirits. I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

“Wait,” says Doppio, before he realizes he doesn’t really have anything to say. “Uh… what kind of demon are you?”

“Me?” Zett grins again, just as unsettling as before. “There’s no ‘kind’, I’m unique. Beelzebub, known as Lord of the Flies.”

He waves, and heads on his way, whistling a happy tune, while Doppio is still staring after him.

...Doppio’s not sure if he would have preferred the fire and brimstone Hell. It would at least have been predictable.


End file.
